I think maybe I'm too old for the story. I enjoyed it, but it was a little childish at times. If I had to describe it in one word, it would be feminist.
Feminist propaganda for soon-to-be young adults.
Cimorene hates being a princess. She wants to learn other things like science, math, fencing, and magic. All her parents will let her learn is deportment and Latin. When she learns they arranged her marriage to some weak-willed prince, she struggles to find a way out.
A toad tells her to stop thinking about it and do something. So she goes to the dragons to be a dragon's princess. Usually that's a hated job, cleaning and cooking for a dragon, but she likes it. It's exciting.
Yeah so it's that kind of book. Talking toads, dragons, magic, wizards, witches, knights in shining armor. Not so much fantasy but fairy tale. With the morale of the story being that you have to make your own happily ever after that doesn't involve a prince.
The feminist themes were over-the-top. The dragon "king" can be either male or female, depending on who can pass a set of trial tests. Cimorene constantly sends wanna-be rescuers away. She outwits the male wizards. She rejects the other captured princesses because they embody the definition of "princess" (they act like the popular bitches in high school). She reads books, goes on quests, defends herself from attacks, even rescues a stone prince while she's at it.
I mean, it's a good character, but clearly the message is that men don't equal happiness and that you have to make your own circumstances in life. Which is true, but dang, just tell a story, will you? I think if I were younger and the message wasn't so glaringly obvious, I probably would've liked this much more.
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